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NEW YORK -- Not much has gone right for the Edmonton Oilers and Nail Yakupov in a season where much was expected. The first pick in the 2012 draft showed a glimpse Thursday night of why there was optimism in Edmonton before the season. Yakupov scored with 1:38 left in regulation to give the Oilers to a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers. Ryan Smyth also scored for Edmonton, which is 5-5 in its last 10. Ben Scrivens made 35 saves. "Finally we get rewarded," Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said. New Yorks season-high four-game winning streak came to an end. Derick Brassard scored and Cam Talbot made 29 saves. "I dont think it was consistent enough," Rangers right wing Ryan Callahan said of his teams play. "We need to have more of a consistent 60 minutes to get the win. "I dont think we were getting pucks deep quite enough. Theyre a good transition team with a lot of speed. We were a little sloppy through the neutral zone and when you do that against a team like that it will cost you." New Yorks sloppiness came at a most opportune time for the Oilers. Yakupov one-timed a feed from Sam Gagner past Talbot for the game-winning goal. "It was a good play by our guys down low to protect the puck," Yakupov said. "A great change by (Jordan Eberle). All I had to do was find space in the middle because I saw the two guys behind. I just had to find a spot. I think that was our top game this season. We need to do it to have a good time before the break." Yakupovs goal, his 11th of the season, broke a tie that carried over from the second period. After Smyth opened the scoring 2:56 into the game by shoving a rebound of David Perrrons shot past Talbot, Brassard drew the Rangers even at 1-1 with a slap shot that beat Scrivens 22 seconds into the second period. Brassards goal was his 11th of the season, and it was created by Benoit Pouliot intercepting Eberles pass in the Edmonton defensive zone. Pouliot whipped a pass from alongside the left wing boards to Mats Zuccarello, who found Brassard in the right faceoff circle. "All three of us try to work hard (and) play a simple game," Zuccarello said. "It doesnt matter when you lose. Its really disappointing because I thought we had a lot of chances to close out the game." But the Rangers, who finished with more shots on goal (36-31) and more shot attempts (65-51), could not find a way to solve Scrivens. "He was good," Rangers defenceman Marc Staal said. "We didnt have a lot of secondary chances, missed some good shots. I think you (have) to get in front of a guy like that. Hes playing well and I dont think we had enough traffic, causing rebounds and scrambles." Edmonton appeared to take a 2-1 lead on a power play midway through the second, but what would have been a goal by Gagner was waived off by the officiating crew of Dan OHalloran and Chris Lee. Their ruling was upheld by replay review. "(A shot) hit me right in the collarbone and ended up under my jersey," Talbot said. "It just fell down my back and the whistle had already blown." NOTES: Thursday nights game was the 6,000th regular season game in New York Rangers franchise history. ...Before the game, the Oilers announced they would play the Chicago Blackhawks in a preseason game in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on Sept. 28, 2014. The preseason game will be the third the Oilers will have played in Saskatoon. "Its always nice to get to Saskatoon and see the tremendous support the Oilers have throughout Saskatchewan," Oilers General Manager Craig MacTavish said in a statement. Adidas Bryan Trottier Jersey .com) - Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points with eight rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a 92-80 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . 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Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday.Where do you begin with the Montreal Alouettes? Im not going to mention the coach that was fired five weeks into the 2013 campaign. With clear minds and open hearts, whatever... Im wont recant them losing pro footballs all-time leading passer Anthony Calvillo for the season on August 17th. Or how they lost All-Star receiver Jamel Richardson to a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee a couple weeks earlier. Wont do it. Im not going to talk about losing their explosive running back Brandon (2-Way) Whitaker to injury either. Or their injuries on the offensive line - losing Scott Flory, the All-Star guard for the Als the past 15 years or his teammate/fellow hog Andrew Woodruff, who anchored the other guard position for five seasons. Not going to do it... I also wont rehash how Doug Berry became the acting offensive coordinator midway through the year. Or how ridiculously short (three pass attempts) the leash was on young quarterback Josh Neiswander earlier in the season. Im not going to write about the Marsh Madness and Tanners contagious play. And Im not going to write about how the Als changed their offensive terminology two-thirds of the way into the season. Let me write about Jim Popp actively going out and doing something about the ups and downs that are intrinsic to our game. Its called managing! He stepped up to the plate once again in 2013 and delivered Big Papi (make that Poppy) Style... This has been the finest of his 18 years at the helm of the Alouettes. A single here, a bunt there, a liner in the gap for a stand-up double, and oh yes, there have been home runs too! Duron Carter, Mike Edem, Arland Bruce, Tyrell Sutton, and yes, a kid who has been on the teams negotiation list since 2005, Troy Smith! More on him in a minute... The old saying goes, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Well Popp is as tough as they come folks. He rolled up his sleeves when he was dealt a bad hand, and I mean to tell you it was a real bad hand, and he got busy. Its just like taking the play of Calvillo for granted; soon you just expect great things to happen because Anthony made the routine plays routinely and made the tough plays look routine. Popp does that when he manages. You expect there to be a Ryan Bomben theere to replace a Scott Flory or a Michael Ola to replace an Andrew Woodruff.dddddddddddd How about a Duron Carter for a Jamel Richardson? You lose two Canadian free safeties to retirement in Etienne Boulay and Matthieu Proulx and BANG, say hello to Mike Edem! Popp makes it happen almost effortlessly. But make no mistake about it, managing the way he does takes a ton of foresight, knowledge, effort, experience and sacrificing of time. It was during Weeks 6 and 7 when Popp went out and added another young gun to the promising stable of Marsh and Neiswander; Canada, say hello to Troy Smith, the Heisman Trophy recipient and three-time Bowl winner from Ohio State! Popp brought him in as the No. 4 quarterback as AC was still factoring into the equation back then. You know the guy who has been sitting on my left hand side for the past 14 years at TSN, Chris Schultz, he likes to say "prior preparation prevents poor performance." Well doesnt that just fit perfectly here? Back in August when Popp was asked what Troy brings to the table at a press conference, the coach and GM responded, “You look at his skill set, and we have been wanting a fourth QB and we have been waiting for this one to work out and it did.” “Getting him in, introducing him to the game - he has not been in a training camp since last year with the Steelers - get him back involved, let him learn the rules. Its not an easy transition at quarterback. Get him up to speed so he can compete for one of those three jobs. What the future holds we will find out.” Crazy how that prior preparation thing works out! Fast forward 12 weeks and that kid is going to lead the Als when they play the Ticats in Guelph on Sunday in the Eastern Semi-Final. He will need some help from the Als vaunted defence, he will need to protect the football, he will need his o-line to establish the line of scrimmage and get Sutton and Jerome Messam going. He will have to play smart and yet play to his strengths and realize hes not out there alone. Spread the responsibility and manage the game. Its asking a lot from an inexperienced yet extremely gifted quarterback whos learning the CFL game on the fly... Another great find for Big Poppy! ' ' '